"In service of humanity shall our legacy endure"

Break Out Of Your Shell and Fly High!

Let us take a look at where you are stand by asking the simple question, ‘How is your teacher training foundation?’ ‘Are you confident enough to teach from what you were taught? Probably your answer would be a lack of something or the other. Precisely you are right. That is why there are a multitude of teacher training providers who offer different learning environments for you learn a mosaic of knowledge which would sufficiently make you richer in skills and abilities. Training providers complement each other, and the more there are the more options you have in plotting a successful teaching career path. Do you get the idea? A training institution that forbids or restricts its students to attend workshops from similar training providers or education facilities for their individual growth is an institution that is not confident in itself. And an academy which refuses to engage the teachers community in a harmonious relationship is an organization which is anti-social, self-defeating, and has low self-esteem. The truth hurts but yes there are some organizations which have been built to imprison you as long as you are deemed a necessary asset to further its own vested interests.

Teachers should not fall into a wrong sense of falsehood and hope from these institutions, but rather you should have a strong state of mind that your future is not dependent on any teacher’s training school but on your determination to serve others through a community who can support you as a teacher. The role of a training institution is simply as a facilitator and nothing else. They are not pillars which have been built to make your destiny brick by brick. Rather, discover your destiny from the people you meet, from the people who will not give up on you, and from the people who can lead you to a decent life. Many trainers or training academies will promise you to get the best of everything but you end up with nothing. Regardless of where you are coming from, your teacher or trainers should have sufficient knowledge and professional training to guide you.

And as you learn, you also increase chances of putting your career towards success. Learning is not only in the classroom. In fact, involve yourself in activities outside of your typical class routine which would help connect to a network. Teachers need a community because no teacher is an island. Create events that would stir the community. The more you are involved, the more people would start noticing your good intentions. Pass the good vibes wherever and whenever you can. And a teacher must surround himself with positive feelings. Good psychology in teaching means that teachers, as bearers of knowledge, is connected with each other on a shared merit of pushing for quality education to students.

As a teacher, be more outgoing and become engaged in a harmonious relationship with other teachers. By congregating in workshops and seminars, you meet unique and talented individuals who will eventually become your support group. Survival is key in this vocation especially after the first couple of years of teaching and even at some point when you reach at the middle of your teaching career. Why? Because no matter how passionate we are to teach our physiology is not designed to handle it all. Materials creation, lesson planning, curriculum design, classroom management, and student counseling would mentally and physically require you to seek support from time to time to cope up with your methodology as the psychology of your classes also evolve. Meaning, as students’ level up, the more should a teacher resolve and cater to that demand. That is why we need professional development training as you leaf through years.

I have been teaching for more than 10 years now including spending some time in two international schools in Alabang and Makati in the Philippines. Continuous professional development trainings have become a necessity rather than the norm. And not one institution can claim it can provide everything. Hence, as a teacher, you try as many as you can from different training providers because it will exponentially increase your professional growth. Finally, please do consider the following whenever you are asked to join a teachers training seminar.

Student teachers should:

1) Ask what is included in the seminar fee

2) Never hesitate to raise a question if something is amiss

3) Determine if the seminar is related to your teaching course otherwise you are just wasting money